A bloody sun set in the UK this weekend, conjuring scenes of the Apocalypse.

Experts say, MailOnline reports, that the sudden change in Britain’s skies is actually due to fires more than 6,000 kilometers away in North America.

On Sunday, many across the country were surprised to notice that the sun had suddenly turned dark red, seemingly without explanation.

One skywatcher wrote to X that the sun “literally turned red at sunset,” adding that they had “never seen anything like it in their lives.”

How are the US wildfires connected to the bloody sun?

Andrea Bishop, spokeswoman for the Met Office, told MailOnline: “The vivid and spectacular display of sunrises and sunsets in the UK is, in part, due to a layer of smoke from the fire that passed into the upper atmosphere this weekend.” .

During this summer, wildfires have been raging across the US and Canada sending masses of smoke particles into the upper atmosphere.

Ms Bishop adds: “Smoke particles from fires across the Atlantic have been carried by the jet stream.”

The jet stream is a fast-moving current hundreds of miles wide that runs about five to seven miles above the Earth.

Smoke reaching the UK is carried by the Polar Jet Stream which is caused by the collision of cold air from the North and warm air from the South.

This current changes strength and path throughout the year, but at the moment it blows directly from North America to Britain, leading to a build-up of smoke particles in the atmosphere.

Fortunately, these particles are too high to pose a health risk to anyone, but they make for some strange and spectacular sunsets.